


brother, oh brother

by iidiiot



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Blood and Injury, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Mentioned GeorgeNotFound (Video Blogging RPF), Mentioned Jschlatt (Video Blogging RPF), Mentioned Karl Jacobs, Mentioned Toby Smith | Tubbo, Mentioned TommyInnit (Video Blogging RPF), Non-Graphic Violence, Not Canon Compliant, bedwars is an illegal underground fighting ring, sapnap and purpled are brothers :), sapnap is a kind of shitty brother
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-18 01:35:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29360397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iidiiot/pseuds/iidiiot
Summary: amidst a sea of wars, purpled fades to the back of sapnap's mind. he feels awful about it.so he thinks on it.(rated teen for language and non-graphic depictions of blood and injury).
Relationships: Clay | Dream & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF), Grayson | Purpled & Sapnap (Video Blogging RPF)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 54





	brother, oh brother

**Author's Note:**

> hello all! :)
> 
> i wanted more purpled content, personally, so now you all are stuck with it. i'm so glad he's getting into the lore now!! even if it just makes his backstory angstier.
> 
> i also wrote this so that purpled still lived in his ufo, and realized toward the end that purpled had already long since left his ufo by the time he was recruited for manberg, so i made some hasty fixes to fit a little better with canon. (this was also heavily influenced by the headcanons that bedwars is an illegal underground fighting ring. oops.)
> 
> anyways, enjoy brothers purpled and sapnap bonding because they're both kind of awkward and hyperfocus on their own objectives, therefore forgetting about the people around them! (it isn't the traditional brother headcanons but i don't give a fuck :D).

sapnap.. isn't the best older brother, admittedly. he knows this and he feels bad about it- really, he does! but he just.. doesn't know how to act around his younger brother. it most likely doesn't help that they haven't spoken in a while. he's caught up helping dream and purpled is caught up doing.. whatever purpled things he does. and that's his problem.

he doesn't really know him. not as well as he should. hell, even george seems to know purpled better than he does. every interaction they have is stilted and awkward, mostly on sapnap's part (as loathe as he is to admit it). "purpled," he calls out when the blond boy trots past.

"oh, uh. hey sapnap. what's up?" purpled blinks in his direction, seemingly clueless as he picks his way over, arms bundled with various materials.

"nothing really. i just wanted to see how you were doing. we don't really talk all that often, and.. well.." he rubs at the back of his neck sheepishly. he curses mentally- there he goes, making it awkward again.

only, purpled gives him a small, little smile. it's tiny, barely noticeable, but he suddenly seems a little brighter. "i'm good. dogchamp and i are getting ready to go finishing up with closing the ufo, y'know, and-" suddenly, he cuts himself off. "oh, you've probably got to get going, though, right?"

the hint of dejection in his voice, the way his shoulders lower, had sapnap biting hard on his lower lip. he'd said he was going to help dream and george with something today but, looking at his brother, he finds he doesn't want to leave just yet. "i've got some time. we can hang out," he agrees, trying to feign a casual shrug.

"really? cool!" purpled turns to scan the sky, giving sapnap a chance to shoot dream and george a message: "hangin w my lil bro, cant make it sorry". he catches george's frantically typed "your what??" before he shoves his communicator away.

"how's dogchamp doing, purp? he was a puppy last time i saw him." he asks, trying to start a conversation. he knows how much his brother loves his dog- probably the only thing on the server he really cared about that much. and it's true- last time he saw dogchamp, he was still fresh out of the forest, following purpled around like a lost puppy.

"he's good. he's bigger now," purpled explains. carefully, sapnap leans over to take some of the materials from him- to make his load lighter- but the blond glances at him and takes a step away. as upset as it makes him, he understands, to a point. purpled doesn't quite trust him, even if they're brothers, doesn't want to get too attached. that's how he's always been, for as long as he can remember.

and maybe that's partially his fault too.

he just.. he remembers coming home one day to his baby brother patching up wounds far worse than anything he could've gotten playing outside with his friends. he worked bandages around his arm like second nature, like he did it everyday, and his lip was split, face a little bruised. he'd snapped.

"purpled?" he speaks, eyes wide. the teen jumps, visibly, and flinches, hand dropping to his side. "what happened? are you okay?"

they meet eyes, for a minute, before purpled breaks down. he hits the floor on his knees with a thud, slumps heavily. his brother isn't a cryer- never was- but he just starts sobbing in that moment. "purp, what's wrong, bud?" he presses, dropping to his knees beside him. he pulls him against his shoulder, settles him on his lap and rocks a little while he cries, face pressed into the older's shoulder.

"i'm sorry, you weren't supposed to-.." purpled mumbles, clutching at the front of his jacket. his tears are already drying, all of a minute or two later, and he's holding his side again.

"'i wasn't supposed to' what?" he worries. "did someone hurt you? just tell me who, and i can get dream and george to-" he's caught off abruptly by purpled coughing, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his hoodie.

clambering out of his lap, purpled limps back for the bandages and healing supplies spread haphazardly across their table. "ah-ah," sapnap mutters, "sit on the table. i'll finish patching you up." he only narrows his eyes when purpled gives a protesting "but i can-.." that trails into silence as he heaves himself up onto the table.

the older gets to work, shucking the hoodie up until purpled tugs it off in order to get to his side. the bandages there have already soaked through and sapnap gives a shaky sigh, unwinding them so that he can properly dress the wound. he's had worse wounds, has helped dream and george patch up worse, but it seems so much worse when it's his younger brother that's been hurt.

"this is gonna sting, and you're going to bleed more, but it'll heal faster," he tells purpled, pulling out a health potion that george had given him earlier. "you might feel a little woozy," he adds swiftly, leaning him back so that he can pour some over the wound.

"i already feel woozy," the teen mumbles, a piss poor attempt at a joke. sapnap doesn't laugh and purpled winces when the sting hits.

picking up a roll of bandages, the ravenet meets his younger brother's eyes. he seems nervous, for once, rather than impassive, as usual. "are you going to tell me what happened?"

a pause, and then- "do i have to?" purpled flinches when sapnap exhales, beginning to wrap the bandages around his torso.

"yes, purp," he mutters, frustrated, "you have to. just tell me who hurt you and i'll get dream and george to help me-"

"no one hurt me. well, no one in particular." the blond blurts out, wincing when sapnap's eyes find his again. "i.. um. well, i like to play bedwars-"

"bedwars?" his voice rises in pitch and volume, practically a shout. it makes purpled flinch backward. "you play bedwars? you mean that underground, very illegal game? what the fuck, purpled?" hands unoccupied, what with having finished with the bandaging, snap up to grip either side of his brother's face.

"it's- it's fun! i just got a little sloppy today, okay? and he was a hacker anyways, so i couldn't have-" purpled stumbles over his words, wide, terrified eyes staring straight into his.

"you shouldn't be playing bedwars, purp! you're fuckin'- you're like fourteen!" he spits viciously, "what the fuck are you thinking? you could die down there, and no one would care!" everyone knows the respawn mechanics for games like bedwars are shoddy at best. you could respawn after one game but not the next and there's nothing even the mods could do for you. "you'd just be another nameless victim-"

"i'm on the leaderboard."

the statement has him freezing, still holding his brother's face in his hands. the teen looks smug, albeit still nervous. "i'm on the leaderboard, sap, i'm.. i'm good at it. i learned from watching you, you know, and i-.." he sucks in a breath, "i like doing it. it's fun. and it makes money."

"the money doesn't matter-" sapnap tries to protest.

"i.. just wanted to help. to be good at something," purpled mutters, arms crossing over his chest. "i thought, if i could make money.. that i could help, you know? i just wanted to help you, sap."

the expression his brother is wearing makes his chest hurt, but he's still pissed. "i don't- i don't care what you thought you were doing!" the blond is practically cowering now, and if sapnap were in a better state of mind he would feel awful about it, but he's just so irrevocably angry. "you could have died down there, purpled! what don't you get about that? you would have died and i never would have found out. i would have spent so long looking for you, worrying about you, and you could have been dead and i never would have known."

his hands clamp down on his shoulders and he shakes him. purpled just takes it, eyes downcast. "you could have died. i don't care what you thought you were doing, what your intentions were. you never should have gone down there." there's a long pause, but the blond still won't say a word, so sapnap continues, "you won't be going back down there again. i don't care how fun you thought it was, i don't care that you're on the leaderboard. you're- dream just made his own world, and you're coming with me. i was going to let you stay here, see if one of your friends' parents would take you in so you didn't have to be alone in a fresh server, but you've proven to me that i can't let that happen."

"but-" purpled protests softly.

"no. you're coming with me to dream's new server, whether you like it or not. i can't trust you to stay here by yourself. those 'friends' probably aren't real, are they?" there's no response, so he repeats himself, "are they?"

"they're.. they're friends from bedwars." he admits quietly, looking positively dejected.

"get packed. we're leaving with dream and george tomorrow. i was going to wait a few days, so we could find you somewhere to stay, but.." sapnap shakes his head, still seething. his fists clench. "get packed. i'm going to tell dream you're coming with. we're leaving tomorrow." the older doesn't wait to see what purpled does, just stalks off- slamming the front door behind him.

dream accepts it without question, when sapnap tells him he's bringing purpled with him. he just nods and asks what changed his mind. it sets him off on another rant about how 'goddamn stupid' his baby brother is. his friend is frowning by the end of it.

"maybe you should go apologize to him, sap," the older blond suggests. "it sounds like you were.. really harsh. and he's only fourteen. he doesn't know any better. his only influences are us, and we run around trying to kill one another every other week."

"he's just-"

"i get it, but.. he just wanted to help. you can't get mad at him for that." dream says. the anger drains from him suddenly, so fast that he feels almost lightheaded.

"fuck, i can't believe i-.." sapnap breathes, shoving his face into his hands. purpled had just wanted to help out and he'd been honest about it all- and this was how sapnap treated him? dream sets a hand on his shoulder.

"go apologize to him," his friend urges.

"right, i'll.." he only nods emptily and takes off, darting out of the bar and heading for his house. he gets weird looks but it doesn't matter- he just shouted at his brother. he just shook him and yelled at him and terrified him. that's more important.

he bursts through the door to purpled cleaning up the things on the table. "i finished packing-" he says at the same time that sapnap blurts out an "i'm so sorry."

"what?" the surprise, almost shock, on purpled's face makes his gut twist. "no, it's.. it's okay. i get it- why you were so mad. it was dumb of me and i-"

"it isn't okay! it was dumb of you, yeah, but i was an asshole. i.. i shouldn't have shouted and i shouldn't have shaken you either. i was pissed, but that isn't an excuse. i scared you, purp, and i could've hurt you worse than you already are." sapnap hisses. his hands shake when his brother only stares at him.

"i.. i.." purpled hesitates. "i get why you were so mad. i would have been too." then he moves on, like he hadn't just been cowering from and terrified of sapnap half an hour ago. "i packed my stuff, for dream's server. i guess i'll bring it out here, so i don't forget it tomorrow-.."

"purpled-" sapnap gapes, but his little brother just brushes it off.

"i told you, it's fine. don't worry about it." purpled mumbles. he's got that impassive look back on his face as he turns away to drag his bag into the main room. they eat dinner in silence and then the teen retreats to his room.

sapnap knocks on the door a few minutes later, popping it open just to knock lightly on the wall again. "i know you probably don't want to see me right now, but can i check your side? please?" he asks. purpled only nods, yanking his sleep shirt up to expose the bandages. they're completely soaked through but the wound isn't bleeding anymore- the potion did what he'd hoped it would. he unwinds the bandages, winces at the sight of the wound subconsciously, and rewraps it with clean bandages.

it's only once he's dropping his shirt back down that purpled speaks up, "you're.. you're really sorry about earlier, right? like, for real?" the distrust and nervousness there makes sapnap feel absolutely awful. his brother fidgets with his fingers, brushes his hair out of his eyes. at this moment, he feels like there can't be that many people out there any worse than he is.

"i'm so fucking sorry, purp. i never meant to get mad like i did, i just.." he pleads, dropping to his knees in front of the teen. "i was pissed, when you told me that you were playing bedwars. not at you, not really. i was mad you never told me, sure, and that you were playing at all. but i think.."

he sucks in a breath, "i think i was mostly mad at the game. and at myself, for making you think you had to help with money. i.." sapnap sighs, trying to shove down the tears welling in his eyes (either out of frustration or guilt, he can't really tell). "i never wanted you to have to feel like you had to help with money. you shouldn't have had to worry about that, and yet you were playing bedwars and getting hurt because of it-"

he gives a soft 'uuf' when purpled slams into him, arms wrapped around him. carefully, he brings his arms up to curl around his brother, to cradle him to his chest. he doesn't realize he's crying until he feels it drip off his chin. he can't help but try to make a joke, to ease the tension- "one of us had to be the emotional one, i guess."

it gets its desired effect, because purpled laughs a little, muted and breathy. "it's definitely you," he agrees quietly. "you're the one crying like a big baby." now sapnap is laughing, rocking backward. he ends up on his back with the teen sprawled across him, just lying there in silence.

"i'm sorry too," purpled says after a long while- so long that sapnap had started to think he'd fallen asleep, "for not telling you. i should have, but you never would have let me do it. i was stupid for doing it, and it was only going to be a one or two time thing.." he gives a low noise, "but i liked it, sapnap. i liked playing it, and i was good at it. i made it on the leaderboard and people placed bets on me and- it felt good. it was addicting."

he has no words at first. the older just listens, contemplates. "it's okay, kid. think about it this way: starting tomorrow, we get a fresh start. no more bedwars, no more struggling for money here, no more manhunts to make ends meet. just us, george, and dream- and whoever else dream adds. we can start over and we'll never have to worry about any of this for a long time, if ever again. sound good?"

maybe it wasn't a good idea to just sweep it all under the rug and pretend it never happened, but it was really a fresh start. they would live off of what they could get. no money, no trading, no having to pay rent or buy food. he felt purpled nod against his chest and rested a hand on the back of his brother's head. "come on," he says instead. "you should get to bed. we've got a lot of work to do tomorrow."

sapnap doesn't remember when exactly his baby brother drew away from him. he was too busy fighting a war, too busy with his own goals to notice purpled dropping off to the sidelines. he's proud of him, honestly, for managing to stay neutral like he had. he hadn't participated in a single conflict, hadn't lost a single life. it's why he was so shocked to see him join up to help schlatt, when prompted. don't get him wrong- he was glad to fight alongside his brother. he just.. he still wasn't sure about him fighting at all.

he'd watched purpled from a distance, even after he'd pulled away. it was all subconscious, still lost in a world of wars and fighting and l'manberg and dream. he remembers seeing the ufo pop up, he remembers listening to an excited purpled ramble on about dogchamp- up until sapnap had to cut it short and go help dream with war preparations. he remembers seeing purpled around less and less as time went on. the teen was almost like a ghost. it got to a point where he couldn't remember the last time he'd seen purpled leave his ufo. and now he was talking about finishing sealing it? where was he going?

.. but then dream had told him about how they'd recruited purpled to their side, had gotten him to fight for manberg. as shocked as he was to hear it, he really was excited. maybe, he thinks, he was so excited was because it gave him an excuse to go see his brother. to talk to him without having to have an awkward conversation about why he'd suddenly decided to seek him out. the war wasn't the reason he'd sought him out, but it gave him an excuse to.

purpled seems.. lonely. listening to him speak, he doesn't mention other people often. it's mostly about what he's been doing, about what dogchamp has been doing. occasionally, he mentions tommy or tubbo, but that's always in past tense. he mentions karl, schlatt, and dream, when they'd recruited him. looking at him, up this close, sapnap can see the bags under his eyes and hear the exhaustion in his tone- brought back to life, only at the prospect of getting to spend time with someone, with his older brother.

the conversation stalls during the last minute or two of their walk, even longer as they fly up the water elevator into the ufo. dogchamp growls when they arrive at the top, eyeing the ravenet, and purpled can only shush him. "don't worry about him, dogchamp. it's just sapnap." his heart hurts when he doesn't add 'my brother', but he knows it's stupid to expect him to.

he sits back on purpled's bed and watches him and dogchamp work, piping up with the occasional response or comment while the teen chatters away. he's seventeen now. sapnap almost can't believe it. watching him now, as dogchamp hands him a pickaxe so he can break some panelling on his ufo, he drops his head back. just how much of his brother's life had he missed?

"i'm sorry i'm such a bad older brother," he mutters softly.

"what was that?" purpled asks, glancing over his shoulder.

"oh, nothing." sapnap holds in a sigh. there's not much he can do now but try to spend time with him when he can. nothing will ever make up for missing nearly three years of his baby brother's life, for letting him pull back and descend into loneliness purely because he doesn't want to fight. because he doesn't want to get hurt and die, like sapnap begged him not to. so yeah- all he can do is try to spend as much time with him as possible and hope, one day, that purpled will forgive him. that what he can do will be enough to make up for what he didn't do.

(his heart breaks when, all of a week or two later, he sees purpled fighting against him, on the opposite side of the war. if punz sees him pointedly avoid fighting his brother, the other blond doesn't say a word).

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you enjoyed!! :)
> 
> should i write another part? maybe where george confronts sapnap about the brother he supposedly has and the boys bond a little more? what do you think?


End file.
